


friends don't look at friends that way

by TheCarrot



Category: Triple Frontier (2019)
Genre: Benny Ships It, Bets & Wagers, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:14:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29739273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCarrot/pseuds/TheCarrot
Summary: Benny doesn’t see it right away.But he does see it before either of Will or Santiago.So that's at least something.
Relationships: Santiago "Pope" Garcia/William "Ironhead" Miller
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	friends don't look at friends that way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [copper_head](https://archiveofourown.org/users/copper_head/gifts).



> A huge thanks to copper_head who prompted me with 
> 
> "Since we know absolutely Benny ships it: his POV on Will and Santiago's interactions before they get together, how he catches on the signs of their feelings for each other. Benny cares about both his brother and Pope, and I feel this could be something different and fun to try to write"
> 
> And also to Mssrj, because they're my go to sounding board and has probably already read this fic in the tiny bits and pieces I've been sending them!

Benny doesn’t see it right away.

Well, he **says** he does. But truth be told, the whole thing passes him by for a lot longer than he would ever admit to. 

He wonders if there were small clues all along. Ones that had gone unnoticed by not just him, but the entire team. Because they are are a team now. One recently added Santiago Garcia rounding out their strange team dynamic. A dynamic that really shouldn’t work, but does. 

Honestly, Benny hopes that whatever thing is blooming between his brother and said Santiago Garcia didn’t start right away. Doesn’t want to think he’d be that blind where his brother’s wellbeing is concerned. It won’t be until almost a year later that he’ll quietly admit to himself, as hard as it is, that he in fact didn’t notice the change in Will. Never saw any of the signs in the one person he was dead set on protecting the most. 

He still isn’t sure, even after a year of working together, that he knows Pope well enough to know if the man had been acting any differently than normal. The man’s good, but there’s an edge to him that makes Benny raise an eyebrow every time Will seeks out the shorter man. 

So it’s not until there’s a mission that sends the two men away that Benny begins to really open his eyes. The details of the mission so secret that not even being Will’s younger brother will make him privy to information.

So the two older men disappear on a helo and don’t come back for three weeks.

Looking back, Benny’s pretty sure that must be when it starts. 

Because he’s never seen Will like this. Ever. His older brother looks so comfortable, standing that close to someone that isn’t Benny himself. Unflinching when Santiago leans in close to him because there’s something about their newest team mate that hates personal space. 

Benny smirks, figures it’s an intimidation thing for Pope to get up in peoples faces the way he does; after all he is the shortest of the lot of them. A fact Fish points out with glee now that the pilot’s no longer being surrounded by freakishly large giants all by himself. Benny’s thought is proven right when he spends an entire week resting his elbow on Pope’s shoulder only for Pope to elbow him in the ribs each time. 

The one time Benny does it with Will watching is what finally hammers the nail into everything he hadn’t been able to pin down. 

Will glares at his brother, snaps at him to cut it out when Pope starts to get annoyed and that— that makes Benny drop his arm and raise his hands in mock surrender, backing away in amused surprise.

That quick defence of Will’s is what makes finally makes Benny take notice of the thing he’s pretty sure he’s been missing.

—

Red feather lakes isn’t a big town. It’s the kind of place that tourists love. Small town people with quaint houses and a down home country atmosphere. The kind of place where everyone knows everyone and all of those people know your business. It’s the kind of place where neighbours gossip about who’s marrying whom, who’s divorcing and who’s daughter ran off with the preacher, just to feel like something’s actually happening in their small world.

People talk about who you date.

And they also talk about who you don’t.

Benny himself left quite a reputation behind him when he left to follow his brother into the military. Not to mention a vast string of broken hearted exes. 

But Will?

Will left a whole lotta nothing. No jilted lovers. No scorned girlfriends and no jealous exes. Just a crummy job he worked until Benny graduated and they could leave their alcoholic father and shit childhood behind them to make a difference somewhere else.

That really should have been Benny’s first clue. It’s not though. His first clue is Will shaking his head and brushing off Santiago’s shoulder where Benny’s arm had just been mockingly resting. 

Benny’s second clue comes a month after the first and feels akin to getting hit by a two by four. Will and Garcia come back from a week in Majera; smiling and trading simple touches that Benny can’t read. 

Isn’t meant to if the way Will drops his hand from Pope’s chest when others show up is any sign.

And it only gets worse.

From Belgium to Kazakstan, Benny can’t help watching them. Can’t help but wonder if Will even realizes he’s doing it. Those small things; small touches, soft smiles, saying Popes name like that. Is curious if Santiago sees how he returns the blonds perceptions with an ease none of them have ever witnessed the man carry anywhere else. 

Benny can’t tell. Knows he needs more information. 

So he waits.

And watches.

Much like he’s doing now. Sitting halfway up a cliff face, stars shining above him in no constellations he recognizes, in a place no sane person ever wants to be. Benny stares down to where his brother and Santiago are huddled together by a small fire they’ve lit on the teams designated basecamp. He peers down from his lookout, watching the two men now that he has the time and the privacy. Knows Frankie will be up to relieve him in a few short minutes so Benny takes the short opportunity to study the way his brother chuckles softly at whatever Pope’s saying.

_Pope._

Benny would think it ironic if he were actually a God fearing man. Santiago is a lot of things: dangerous, smart, cunning, loyal, manipulative. But there’s nothing angelic about him. Save his timing, and Benny has the scar on his side to prove just how good that is. 

But all those rough edges on him seem to fade in Will’s presence. 

If he didn’t know any better, Benny would call the look Pope wears, open. Can’t even begin to describe the face Will makes as he sheds his own scarf and wraps it around Santiago’s neck.

Happy? Maybe, Benny can’t tell from this far up. Hasn’t seen Will that way in what feels like so long. Silently Benny hopes he’d still recognize what the expression looks like on his older brother

Santiago to his credit, stares at Will in surprise before adjusting the scarf around his neck a little tighter. Adjusts his rifle and doesn’t look away from Ironhead as they kneel next to the fire together, voices far too low and far away to carry up to Benny.

Benny who can only roll bright blue eyes towards the night sky, because he’s pretty sure he’s never seen a movie with a more cheesy love scene than this. It’s so obvious now that he’s looking for it. His head darts up a moment later at the sound of shifting rock, and he readies his gun... only to let it fall the next moment when he sees Catfish shimmying his way over towards him.

“Why’s it always gotta be the high points?” Fish sighs heavily, pointedly not looking down.

“Best view up here.” Benny replies easily, then frowns deeply. “You telling me you fly for a livin’, and you don’t like heights?” 

Frankie shrugs and carefully settles in next to the younger Miller. Sighs in relief when he shoves himself away from the edge Benny is looking over. More than content to watch the sight below them from a safe distance.

They’re supposed to be watching their surroundings; only it seems Catfish is just as interested in watching the two men below as Benny is. 

“Fuckers.” Fish sighs in quiet Spanish. One of the few words Benny is slowly picking up from hanging around him and Santiago. His own Spanish is awful, he knows this and doesn’t care. Everyone else’s on the team is good and it’s not like he’ll ever be on a mission without one of them.

“Hm?” Benny raises an eyebrow as he finally looks away from the sight of his brother dragging a hand across the breadth of Santiago’s shoulders before the shorter man disappears into the surrounding darkness to go relieve Tom. 

“Ellos están enamorados.” 

“W-what?” Benny’s Spanish is bad, but not that bad. He stares at Fish incredulously for a moment as the older man watches Ironhead gaze out into the distance, no doubt tracking a figure neither of them can see. Silence covers the cliff face, each of them staring at the other, breaths held tight until— 

Frankie rolls his eyes, dropping his shoulders and giving Benny a pointed look. Like he firmly expects Benny to already know what he said and repeating it is just unnecessary. “They’re in love.”

And hells, Benny didn’t need the translation. Not really. Can’t even feign surprise that Fish was so forward. Yet, just because Frankie apparently see’s what he does, doesn’t mean Benny won’t be on guard. For Will’s sake. 

“You think?” Benny asks carefully. Testing.

Fish props up a knee, curling around it and looking at the younger man casually. Almost as if he’s judging Benny very, very carefully. Like he’s worried for the same reason Benny is but for Pope. “Si.” 

“Oh fucking ‘si’. Those two are the most ‘si’ I've ever seen!” Benny hisses relieved and all but throwing himself into Frankie’s space with a wild look. Thrilled that it’s not just him who sees it. Even if the two involved don’t seem to. “It’s crazy right?” 

Frankie sighs heavily, looping an arm around the younger Millers shoulder and at the same time he scrubs at his beard. “Oh young Padawan, I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet.”

Benny frowns, but nods, sinking back down to the rock he had been sitting on. He knows his brother. He’s getting to know Santiago. 

They’re only in the first round here. And Benny doesn’t see a knockout coming any time soon.

\--

In hindsight Benny should have been worried about the idea of his brother and Santiago spreading. 

Instead he ends up worrying about other things. 

Like the way his brother spends hours at the heavy bag when Tom comes back from a mission with an unconscious Santiago in tow. Will’s entire demeanour is clearly daring someone to mess with him and it’s only Benny that knows it’s because of guilt. The mission had originally been Will’s after-all, with Santiago as a last minute replacement when Will’s flight fell through. 

Benny worries when he finds Santiago asleep in his brothers hospital room after an undisclosed drop-off in Siberia leads to both Will and Fish being hospitalized with hypothermia.

When he and Will get pinned down with no back-up in the middle of he desert, Benny doesn’t have time to worry. Is sure of nothing else except that they’re going to die. However, a moment later the sniper that had been keeping them locked in place suddenly stops and Benny turns to look his brother in shock. Watches as Will’s own confusion turns to a knowing smirk seconds before Pope’s voice cuts through their comms. 

Saving them gets Pope an awol in his jacket for disobeying direct orders and Benny doesn’t move to stop his brother when Will turns on their XO. It’s the only black mark in Ironhead’s otherwise perfect recorded record.

Although the real worry, the one that make Benny surreptitiously check for grey hairs each morning, sets in when he sees Redly start to get that crease between his eyes. Feels the pit of his stomach almost drop out of him the day their Captain watches Santiago give a parting pat to Will’s chest before heading off on leave with a cocked up smirk.

Benny loves Tom. He really does. The man is everything he’s ever wanted in a father and more. Kind. Loving. Forgiving, even when orders are involved. 

It’s just… Tom is as straight-laced as they come. And then some. And about as straight as. Benny isn’t sure how Redly would take the idea of this brother and Pope. Even if the man were to open his eyes to the way his two teammates are around each other. Tom might just blow a fuse and it could damage a lot of things.

Benny himself isn’t sure how he’s taking the whole Will and Santi to be honest. He can reconcile it in his brain easy enough. Guys, girls, love, simple fucks, everything in-between. Whatever.

It’s just the Pope part that makes Benny’s head hurt most days.

He loves Pope, don’t get him wrong. Loves him like he loves Fish and Redfly. But there’s so much hidden inside those dark brown eyes that most of the time Benny doesn’t know how to take it. All he knows, more than anything, is that he wants his brother to be happy. Has seen Will put himself second and third, fourth and last. Everything else comes ahead of Ironhead’s own happiness and Benny has had enough of that.

Far beyond anything, Benny want’s his brother to have the entire world if that would make him happy. And if the entire world happens to be be a man, with greying curls and low self esteem yet also with an ass to die for...well, who is he to ask too deep into it?

It is a hell of an ass though.

-

So, despite not understanding his brothers taste in difficult, bite-sized Latino’s, Benny gets to work doing what he can to give them time together and keeping others from wandering in on them. 

He’s not meddling. No matter what Fish says.

Swoops into Will and Santiago’s tent when he spies one fo their commanders heading towards it. Braces himself to break up a make-out session but falters when he sees Will reading on his own bunk and Santiago passed out asleep with loud music blaring in his ears. 

Wait, what?

Benny slings an arm around both of their shoulders one evening and pretends to be far more drunk than he is. Gives up the lovely looking brunette at the bar for the half an hour of alone time Will and Santiago will get on their walk back to pick up the others. Expect apparently he’s too good of an actor because Will stays behind to watch over him and Santiago parts ways with him at the door with nothing more than a grin.

For fucks sake, the idiots.

Time and time again it happens and Benny keeps expecting… something. Some sort of sign. For despite how few relationships he’s seen his older brother in, Benny knows what he’s looking for. 

But there’s _nothing_.

Not a single notion that Will has entered into a relationship with Pope; and Benny has been scrutinizing almost every move they make. Feels like a weirdo some days with how close he’s been watching them. Like some sort of terrible day time soap opera. Or a car crash he can’t look away from.

Benny sees the way the two of them dance around missions and orders and each other and ends up punching his pillow more times than he can count with just how close they are…

_And they’re so fucking close._

—

In true spectator fashion, Benny ends up taking bets with Fish after the time he describes the way Will shared his ever-present scarf with Santiago. It devolves rather rapidly from there.

They foolishly go ahead with their normal rules. A ten dollar buy in, and both Delta men take their pick of dates for a few months later. 

At the end of the year they pick dates for the middle of summer and their next shore leave dates.

After that Fish puts money down on an entire month and Benny bemoans the two mens stupidity. If those two men are Will and Santiago or Frankie and himself, well… The betting pools getting a lot of money in it lately irregardless. 

Three years of scratched out dates in Benny’s notebook later and it’s Fish curses this time as he picks a random day next year and slides a wad of bills over to Benny. The bet is too high now to even think of backing away, and Fish bemoans Santiago’s stupid rules for their betting pools.

Rules, that Benny keeps pointing out that he and Fish agreed to follow when they started this secret bet of theirs. Neither of them remembering that each time they picked wrong dates and there was no clear winner, the bet amount would be doubled. 

They’re up to two hundred dollars a date now and neither of them knows what’s happening. 

“Maybe we should just give up.” Frankie sighs into his beer bottle watching as the young Miller next to him scratches in their last set of bets. The bar bustles around them, the noise of dozens of drunk civilians covering their words and curses because there’s still nothing happening on the Pope and Ironhead front yet.

Benny is known to be a pretty stubborn guy when he’s sure he’s right, but right now he’s of half a mind to agree with their pilot. Sighs, “I don’t get it man, I really don’t.”

They’re interrupted a second later however, when Tom drops down into the seat next to Benny, beer in hand and shoulder’s taut with tension. Their captain is looking decidedly uncomfortable and Benny can’t help but raise a curious eyebrow over to Fish. 

Fish in turn nudges the older man with his foot and slides one of the few remaining shots they had ordered a while ago over to the man. “You look awful Cap, what is it?” Redly shakes his head in reply and Frankie tips his baseball cap back to get a better look at the other man. “Everything okay at home?” He asks pointing to the the cellphone Toms’ got clenched in his hand that’s not white knuckling his beer bottle.

“No it’s fine. The girls are fine.” Tom starts, but pauses, seemingly trying to find the right words. Struggles to get out, “I just…look, I’ve put this off for a long time now. And trust me, I do not even remotely want to know… but—” 

Morales sits up a bit straighter and even Benny leans a little closer to prop his elbows on the table to eye their team leader curiously at the seriousness in Tom’s voice.

Redfly huffs and looks at Benny imploringly. Asks with a bit of finality in his voice; “Your brother and Pope?”

Benny can’t help the way his heart stops dead in his chest. Oh gods, if Tom’s finally noticed that, he wonders what else he’s seen. “W-what about’em?” His voice almost cracks on the question as Frankie tenses next to him.

“I just…” Redfly takes a long pull off his beer and stares pointedly down at the table when he’s done. “H-How long has it been goin’ on?”

The air that makes it’s way into Benny’s lungs then feels like the worst mix of relief and annoyance that he’s ever felt. For fucks sake. Tom’s really noticed. There’s no denying it now. Yet for some reason Will and Santiago… 

Benny casts sharp blue eyes over towards the other side of the bar where the two men in question are throwing darts and trading shots with one another. 

They’re the only ones who haven’t… fucking….noticed.

“It’s not.” Benny grits out.

“Bullshit.” Tom shoots back just as quickly. Frowns, “I know what I’m seeing kid, you don’t have to lie.”

“Believe me,” Benny huffs. Empties his own bottle and sends a scathing look to his brothers back. Will doesn’t even seem to notice, too wrapped up in shoving the dart feathers towards Santiago with emphasize whatever he was saying. “Nothin’s happened.”

“Well why the fuck not?” Tom gapes, follows Benny’s stare and eyes the two other members of his team in confusion. 

“You mean you don’t mind?” Frankie can’t help but cut in, eyebrows raised in surprise. Rerouting the conversation entirely when Benny also looks to their captain for an answer. His own surprise bare to see. 

“Fuck,” Redfly sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face. “As long as it doesn’t affect their performance in the field.” He pauses for a moment. “And I don’t have to see any… ya’know, anything.”

Benny and Frankie grimace at their leader, but nod. In their job, as much as they hate it; that’s a fair request. For everyones safety. No matter what they themselves believe in.

“There’s nothing going on.” Benny sigh dejectedly, and quickly cuts off Redfly’s narrow look. “Yet.”

Fish nudges the younger Millers notebook towards Tom as if in proof. Points to the newly marked up page that has his and Benny’s new dates on it.

Redfly shakes his head staring down at Benny’s pen-scratch. Knocks into the younger Miller’s shoulder in the next second, interrupting the way Benny has turned to watch his brother and Pope head towards the bar. “Alright, whats the buy in?” 

And that’s how Tom gets in on their bet.

“Are you sure that’s the date you want?” Benny asks a few minutes later, a note of despair in his voice.

Redfly to his credit, merely looks aside to where Will is watching Santiago throw back a shot before taking his own. Doesn’t need to keep watching to know Pope is going to end up gawking at the blond in return.

That’s just how the two work. Missing each other by millimetres.

“Yeah, I'm sure.” Redly sighs handing Benny the crumpled fifties from his pocket. He knew their bets had gotten high, but not this high. Tom counts the money all but lost because he knows his second in command and his friend. Knows they are both dense as fuck when it comes to each other.

Benny frowns as he takes the money and consults his moleskin. Wonders vaguely if he should change the date of his own bet.

He doesn’t. Trusts his brother to make a move way before then. Will’s definitely gonna make a move before Redfly’s date… 

Which, in hindsight. Is his own fault for thinking that.

— 

Benny still comes over for dinner after he gets his own place. His and Will’s tiny apartment feeling all the more empty when the younger Miller comes over to steal whatever takeout Wills ordered this week. Sighs when he finds that nothing in Will’s life has seems to change when they get home from Columbia. 

Even if there’s something in those blue eyes, so like his own, that makes Benny think that Will’s waiting for something… 

Which in turn, makes him less, yet still pleasantly surprised when Pope shows back up. Only this times the older man doesn’t come baring a sales pitch and a crazy scheme. Instead, Santiago shows up with two big bags of money and three different accounting numbers scribbled on an airplane napkin. Benny tries to tamp down the worry churning in his gut at the dark circles under haunted brown eyes. The way they all can see how Pope’s practically got one foot out the door in an attempt to get away from them before the blame he thinks is coming, falls down around him.

But Benny also sees the iron will flare to life in his brothers blue eyes in response. Smirks. Sits back and watches as Will offers up the space Benny had vacated, not taking no for an answer in the way Ironhead tends to do. And that. 

That seems to make Pope finally sit still. 

Months go by; slowly, and oh so tenderly. All of them falling into a new normal, one man short and angry gaping wounds slowly closing, bit by bit as the weeks go by. Watches and waits as the two settle into something that fits for them.

It’s not until Will invites him and Fish over for dinner on a Friday evening that Benny notices something different with his brother.

And with Santiago too. 

It’s not a big thing Benny thinks. Just some subtle change in the air. Something…that feels right. That feels like more. 

Benny zeroes in on the nagging in the back of his mind at the way Will ducks in for a taste of the sauce Pope has apparently been cooking all morning. Something in the way Pope _lets_ him steal a full spoon of it. No bitching. No huff of annoyance. Not turning away.

Just an easy smile when Will says it’s good.

They’re comfortable. More than that, they're close. Closer than their normal close.

Somethings changed.

“Jesus Christ.” Benny raises an eyebrow, sets down his beer on the knee wall that separates the living room and kitchen. Crosses his arms and watches the two men in the kitchen who suddenly look like kids who just got their hands stuck in the cookie jar. “Really?”

Santiago just looks completely poleaxed and Will smiles in the way that pulls on the lines his young face shouldn’t have. “How!” Pope huffs. “We didn’t act any different!” Doesn’t know how much of a concession that statement is for something that has been going on between them for so long. 

Ironhead purses his lips, trying to keep his laughter at bay and looks to his younger brother. His only brother. His only family. Confirms what Benny already knows. What he’s known for what’s felt like forever at this point. “We’re together Benny.”

Benny almost freezes when he thinks he sees Will looking for acceptance in those blue eyes that so closely resemble his own. But the moment he sees it, it’s gone. Will just stands tall and looks at him like he always does. And Benny feels his face spilt into a grin at the sight of it. Something deep inside of him lets go then; an age old worry that the one person who meant the most to him in the entire world, wouldn’t be happy.

But Will is going to be.

Because he has Pope now.

“Awesome.” Benny exhales a sigh of relief. And in the next second that relief blossoms into excitement. Happiness bursts to life inside his chest and Benny rushes forward, enveloping his older brother in a hug to end all hugs. He squeezes Will’s shoulders tighter than necessary and all but forces his brothers head into his shoulder. Breath catching, overjoyed. “Fuck yeah, finally!”

Will scoffs wetly, his own arms coming up to wrap around his younger brother. And doesn’t pull away. Let’s it last far longer than any of their previous hugs ever have. But they have so much to say in this one. I love you. I accept you. I'm so happy for you. Is this it? Is this what you want? Yes. Please. Let me have this. I want you to have all of this and more. I accept this. I love you. Thank you.

Ironhead pulls back first, eyes shining with dampness and Benny will never not admit that his own eyes are wet with tears. Too elated to care.

Santiago is looking away from them, giving them unneeded privacy, his own normally unreadable eyes looking just as relieved as Will’s. Even as he mutters under his breath. “Finally? What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” 

None of them have heard the door to Will’s apartment open.

“Holy shit, do I need to kill someone?” Fish growls, fists firmly on his hips as he survey’s the scene in the kitchen before him. Mistakes the brothers teary eyes for distress and readies himself to bring hell down on whoever has hurt his teammates. His fury fades in the next moment when Will, Santiago and Benny all turn to him with a quiet chuckle. Sensing the less seriousness of the moment, Frankie relaxes, instead raises an eyebrow at the three other men, clearly asking for an explanation. 

Hesitant, is the only way Benny can describe Pope’s face just then, as Santiago murmurs something in rapid Spanish that Benny and Will can’t catch.

Frankie does though. If the twitching of his eye is anything to go by. “Are you fucking serious?!” He curses. Throws his arms up in the air and stomping his foot down. 

Through his surprise Benny watches as Will withdraws behind the mask he’s long since perfected. Notices how his brother steps in front of Pope like he’s about to take the brunt of ire for him. Gods those two.

“You!” Frankie curses again and whips around to Benny, startling the younger man. Annoyance is clear in every line of Fish’s face and the pilot huffs. “Two years! I was off by two fucking years! Who the fuck was closest?!”

Benny blinks for a moment, trying to gather himself in the face of Catfish’s rapid change of pace. But then it hits him. Holy shit. He whips out his phone, spends an endless moment scrolling through his iCloud where he’s long since moved all his notes for years of bets and... “Holy shit.”

Across the kitchen Will relaxes a fraction, just enough for Santiago to nudge his way back into the spot next to him; and as one, they look between their teammates. 

“What the hell Benny?” Will asks, eyes narrowed. This isn’t even close to the backlash he and Santiago had been expecting.

His younger brother however just looks away from his phone to Catfish and shakes his head defeatedly. “You’re not gonna believe this.” Benny sighs. “He was off by a day.”

Frankie’s cursing threatens to turn the air in the kitchen blue. The pilot can only picture the smirk on Redfly’s face if he were here to see that he’d been right. Eight years and six months worth of hopeful guessing. All folded into Will and Santiago’s kitchen and the easy way they’ve always fit together. 

Tom would be so fucking smug.

“Fuck this man.” Fish sighs and holds his arms out to Pope. “Congrats mi amigo. Next time though, pick the day I bet on yeah?” Confused, Santiago barely get’s out a ‘you took bets?’ before he’s swept up into one of Frankies bear hugs. The pilot shaking his head as he claps Santiago on the back of his. Pulls back to wrap Will up next, smile fond as he mutters. “I’m straight up telling you though Benjamin, there is some high level cheating going on here.” 

And Will can’t help eyeing his brother when Benny almost falls into the living room, entire body heaving as he laughs. He’s still a little unsure as to whats going on, at least until Frankie finally admits the truth and Will has to laugh a little on his own. The very idea of he and Pope being in a relationship for years makes Ironhead roll his eyes before glancing over to Santiago. 

Pope’s expression clearly says it serves them both right for making stupid bets.

Turns out, Benny does still recognize Will when he’s happy. Watches his brother turn to give Santiago a soft, open smile and… and there it is. That look. The same one Benny’s been seeing for so long every time they looked at each other. But maybe, just maybe, it’s not happiness.

Oh. It hits Benny then.

Will looks at Pope with love. That’s why he never recognized the expression on his brothers face. 

He’s never seen Will in love like this.

So what if he and Fish are out a couple hundred bucks to their missing Captain. 

Benny count’s it as money well spent.

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BELATED B-DAY COPPER!


End file.
